Dutchman Jos van Emden of Team LottoNL-Jumbo placed eighth in the World Championships time trial in Doha, Qatar, today. He covered the 40 kilometres in a time of 46-28.40 minutes. German Tony Martin won with 44-42.99, 45 seconds faster than the Belarusian Vasil Kiryienka and 1-10 faster than the Spaniard Castroviejo.

"I am satisfied, I aimed for a spot in the top 10 so I am very happy with this eighth place,” Van Emden said. “There are only seven riders faster, and Lampaert was even in the same second.”

"I know I slow down after 30 kilometres and the heat makes it worse. So I decided to start fast. In the last 10 kilometres, my pace dropped. I think it cost me half a minute, but who knows, if started slowly, I might not have been able to get time back in the end. A place in the top 10 is beautiful."

Campenaerts

Victor Campenaerts rode a different time trial. The Belgian finished with a time of 47-33.99, in 26th place, and unhappy. He felt he was not in good form in the week leading up to the race.

"In the beginning, I had a good feeling, but after the first intermediate point, I felt worse,” Campenaerts said. “I could not get the watts that I wanted and then you know it will not be enough for a good result.”

“The season was long and in recent days, I felt below what I had hoped. After that, I tried to focus on aerodynamics. I rode the best aero position I could to try to make the best of it.

"It was really hot and you have to drink more than usual, but I definitely did not feel the heat slowed me down. I just had very bad legs."

Roglic and Vermeulen

Besides Campenaerts and Van Emden, LottoNL-Jumbo’s Slovenian Primoz Roglic and American Alexey Vermeulen raced in Qatar. Roglic recorded 47-29.05 in 24th, Vermeulen in 28th with 47-57.99.